Ireland’s senior teams have targeted winning promotion to Division One at this week’s European Championships in Amsterdam.
Last year’s tournament in Wroclaw was unkind for the Irish, as the men’s team finished 11th in Division One and were relegated while the women’s team finished in third place in Division Two.
However, with eight of the nine players who featured in Poland back on deck for this year’s assignment in the Netherlands, hopes are high that a successful week is in store at the Frans Otten.
The No.1-seeded Irish men’s team have been drawn in Division Two Pool A and will play twice on Wednesday, taking on Slovakia and then Norway.
Their pool closing match is scheduled for Thursday versus Austria. A top-two finish would be enough to qualify for the semi-finals.
Fresh from his run to the RC Pro Series semi-finals in St Louis, Sam Buckley, the top-ranked Irish men’s PSA player, will be joined in the Dutch capital by Conor Moran, Michael Creaven, Oisin Logan and Sean Conroy.
Switching to the women’s section, Breanne Flynn is back in the No.2-seeded Ireland team after missing last year’s tournament in Poland due to injury.
The PSA No.98 will line up with Hannah Craig, the PSA No.60, Aimee McConnell and Lydia McQuillan.
Their Division Two schedule begins with two matches on Wednesday, starting with Sweden and then Slovenia, before concluding their Pool B campaign with a Thursday meeting against Italy.
With Arthur Gaskin having stepped back as head coach in the last fortnight, former world No.7 Derek Ryan will assist David Noone with the coaching at the four-day tournament.
